Late yesterday, the nation’s Catholic Bishops came out with a statement that noted at least two strong objections to the revised contraceptive coverage plan unveiled yesterday by the White House: Hours after calling the Obama administration’s contraceptives compromise a “first step,” the Catholic bishops said Friday night they have “two serious objections” to the new [...]

The Obama Administration’s proposed solution to the impasse over contraceptives is unlikely to end the debate.

ABC News’s Jake Tapper is reporting this morning that the Obama Administration will be offering a compromise of some form regarding its controversial new rule requiring employers to provide coverage for contraceptives to their employees: With the White House under fire for its new rule requiring employers including religious organizations to offer health insurance that [...]

Should we just hand “marriage” over to churches and have civil unions for everyone else?

There are some signs that the Obama Administration may be looking for a way out of the controversy it has found itself in with Catholics and other religious groups: The White House may be open to compromising on a new rule that requires religious schools and hospitals to provide employees with access to free birth [...]

Will the Obama Administration’s decision on contraceptive coverage by the Catholic Church have an impact in November?

The AFA strikes again.

Requiring a religious institution to comply with civilian laws is not a violation of religious liberty.

This particular result from the CNN Exit Poll of yesterday’s South Carolina raises an eyebrow (click image to enlarge) : It is, I suppose, amusing that the guy who was raised Lutheran, became a Baptist in college, and converted to Catholicism after marrying the third wife he’d been carrying on an extra-martial affair with gets [...]

Marie Diamond finds this nugget in a Des Moines Register article discussing the reasons why Michele Bachmann’s campaign failed: Rival presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s Iowa coalitions director, Jamie Johnson, sent out an email saying that children’s lives would be harmed if the nation had a female president. He wrote it in June, but it surfaced [...]

It seems that Saturday’s vote by evangelical leaders in favor of Rick Santorum was less than meets the eye.

Tim Tebow has been at the center of a culture war battle, but he seems to have a more balanced view of the whole thing.

A far-reaching decision from the Supreme Court protecting religious liberty.

In 2010, Oklahoma voters passed a referendum blocking state judges from considering Islamic or any other form of international law when rendering decisions in Oklahoma courts. Despite widespread criticism, the referendum passed by a wide margin in what was widely attributed to the same kind of hysteria over Islam that we had seen the previous [...]

Cee Lo Green caused on New Year’s Eve by changing the lyrics of Imagine from “And no religion, too” to “And all religions true.”

If you’re going to take public money, “religious liberty” is not an excuse to fail to comply with the law.

The Christmas spirit didn’t last very long at the Church Of The Nativity, the church built on the site where most Christians believe Christ was born: At one of oldest churches in the world, built over the cave that tradition marks as the place Jesus was born, Franciscan, Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests have brawled [...]

Via CBS News comes this video of a Town Hall from 2007: “Well, first i thought it was a very inappropriate question, you know, for the presidency to be decided on a scientific matter,” he said. “I think it’s a theory…the theory of evolution and I don’t accept it as a theory. But I think [...]

In a blinding flash of the obvious, Gallup finds that “Christianity Remains Dominant Religion in the United States.”

The Republican candidates for President are blurring what should be a pretty clear line.

Conservative groups are upset because a new reality show depicts Muslim-Americans as, well, normal Americans.

Newt Gingrich has penned a lengthy response to the Iowa evangelical group The Family Leader in which he pledges support for a federal marriage amendment, supports the Mexico City Policy (which prevents any group getting federal dollars to refrain from performing abortions anywhere in the world, and  promises he will never commit adultery: Defending Marriage.  [...]

In a desperate bid to save a floundering campaign, Rick Perry is willing to sacrifice important freedoms.

Via the BBC:  ‘End of virginity’ if women drive, Saudi cleric warns A report in Saudi Arabia has warned that if Saudi women were given the right to drive, it would spell the end of virginity in the country. The report was prepared for Saudi Arabia’s legislative assembly, the Shura Council, by a well-known conservative [...]

When you campaign in a Republican primary in Iowa, that means pandering to the evangelicals and social conservatives. For Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, that means telling them you’re in favor of undermining the teaching of evolution in America’s science classrooms. Here’s Bachmann: BACHMANN: I think what you’re advocating for is censorship on the part [...]

Via HuffPo:  Interracial Couple Banned From Kentucky Church the Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church actually made the decision earlier this month, following a visit from 24-year-old Stella Harville, daughter of the church’s secretary and clerk, and her 29-year-old fiance, Ticha Chikuni, a native of Zimbabwe. [...] Following the visit, pastor Melvin Thompson told Harville that his [...]

As I noted earlier this week Pamela Geller and the rest of the anti-Muslim right had themselves in frothing-mouth mode over the allegation that Butterball turkeys were Halal. Well, as MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry gets to the truth, and it turns out the only halal turkeys are the one’s sold in Muslim countries Visit msnbc.com for [...]

This story from the campaign trail has to be read to be believed: Cain speaks for nearly a half an hour and despite a couple fleeting “999″ mentions, keeps his speech to topics of faith and his recent battle with cancer. He begins with a story about how he knew he would survive when he [...]

Grover Norquist isn’t conservative enough for WND.

Ever since his rise in the polls, Herman Cain has backed away from the anti-Muslim rhetoric that earned him headline, and no small degree of support, over the summer. In a new interview, though, he seems to be back to where he left off: Herman Cain said that he believes a majority of American Muslims [...]

A case from the U.K. demonstrates why it’s a good thing to have a strong, written, Bill Of Rights.

Good news, it would seem, for Mitt Romney: Americans overwhelmingly say a presidential candidate being Mormon wouldn’t affect their vote, according to a CNN/ORC International poll released Wednesday. The survey, which was taken after a controversial pastor said Mormonism was a “cult” and that GOP voters should support a “competent Christian,” also shows a majority [...]

In a post over at Red State Herman Cain has a rather unique interpretation of the Easter Passion: He led without a mandate. He taught without a script. His common sense parables filled people with promise and compassion, His words forever inspiring. He never condemned what others believed – just sin, evil and corruption. He [...]

The Daily Beast’s McKay Coppins has gotten his hands on some emails that seem to suggest that supporters of Rick Perry are coordinating with evangelical preachers on an anti-Mormom whispering campaign directed at Mitt Romney: The Daily Beast has obtained a series of emails that show an influential evangelical activist with close ties to the [...]

Remember Park 51, the controversial mosque and Muslim community center near Ground Zero? It’s now facing a new problem. NY Post (“Con Ed says it will evict Ground Zero mosque unless developer pays $1.7 million in back rent“): Con Ed has given the Ground Zero mosque an ultimatum: Pay the $1.7 million you owe in [...]

One of the advantages of not being the frontrunner in a political race, is they you’re somewhat more free to speak your mind: Mitt Romney has been reluctant thus far to address controversial comments from a supporter of Rick Perry equating the Mormon religion with a cult. Jon Huntsman — not so much. In an [...]

Is Mitt Romney’s religion returning as an issue for Republican voters?

You might say Thomas Jefferson, and you’d be nearly correct. David Kopel however, reveals that it was actually William Howard Taft, who served as President from 1909-1913, and Chief Justice of the United States from 1921-1930. One wonders if he could get elected dog catcher (do they actually vote for dog catcher anywhere by the [...]

Rick Perry’s unforced error streak continues.

A town clerk in upstate New York is trying to argue that she should have the right to refuse to comply with the state’s law legalizing same-sex marriage: Rose Marie Belforti is a 57-year-old cheese maker, the elected town clerk in this sprawling Finger Lakes farming community and a self-described Bible-believing Christian. She believes that [...]

A local Alabama television station reports on what clearly seems to be a violation of the First Amendment: Non-violent offenders in Bay Minette now have a choice some would call simple: do time behind bars or work off the sentence in church. Operation Restore Our Community or “ROC”…begins next week. The city judge will either [...]

Ten Muslim students were found guilty on misdemeanor conspiracy charges for their “plot” to shout down the Israeli ambassador during a speech at UC Irvine.

The Islamic Cultural Center at the site of a former Burlington Coat Factory located two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attacks, which caused so much controversy last summer, opened today to minimal notice or protest: The so-called Ground Zero mosque, where proponents of religious freedom clashed with conservative pols and the families [...]

Does the state have the right to regulate how many people you invite to your home?

Just last week I wrote about the investigative work that Danger Room’s Spencer Ackerman had done in discovering the FBI’s use of bizarre anti-Muslim propaganda in some of its advanced counter-terrorism training programs. Yesterday, the FBI issued this statement: The FBI is currently conducting a comprehensive review of all training and reference materials that relate [...]

Contrary to what Eugene Robinson and Paul Krugman argue today, compassion does not require one to support government social welfare programs.

The FBI has been using some odd materials to train its counterterrorism agents.

I may not be the world’s best expert, but this doesn’t sound very Christian to me: Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his “700 Club” viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s is justifiable because the disease is “a kind of death.” During the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential candidate takes questions [...]

The last two GOP debates have featured cheers from the crowd and responses from candidates that ought to be considered problematic.

Reacting to the news that the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” has been raised as a political issue by New York Republicans, Don Surber says the following: Unfair cry liberals. Think Progress headlined its story: “New York GOP Exploits 9/11 Anniversary, Sends Islamophobic Mailer To Voters In NY Special Election.” And then went on to proclaim: [...]